A run ‘n gun filmmaker’s POV on the business and creative world of new media and web tv

Hayley Trailer panned already!? Well, sort of…

September 30, 2008

So we’ve only had our trailer out for about 24 hours now and we’ve received our first review! Well, sort of…

The website YouTube Reviewed (never heard of them ’til now) panned our trailer, citing it as another lonelygirl15 knock off, etc, etc. The blog entry is called “How (Not) to Make a Web Series” and you can read it here.

So it looks like YouTube Reviewed is one of those sites that tries to get infamous by criticizing and ripping apart content in a funny manner. There’s no question that these types of posts are hilarious when they’re done right. Unfortunately, this post wasn’t particularly funny or witty (nor do we have any traffic to send their way).

I mean, I was the first to say, “hey, we’ve got OUR version of a cute video blogger solving a mystery coming out”. I had even said in a previous post that this style was almost cliche now. And I actually do believe that this format has evolved into a genre on the web. But like any genre, there are an infinite amount of different stories to be told. Even Liz Gannes of NewTeeVee wrote the same thing describing The Hayley Project yesterday (Yes, I will shamelessly plug my own blog’s mention in her fabulous “five new media blogs worth reading” post….).

Anyway, I was disappointed by the YouTube Reviewed post, because if we’re going to get lampooned, I was hoping for something a little more creative. At the very least, the whole “Hayley Project is a Lonelygirl15 knockoff” isn’t particularly insightful (although everytime someone writes about The Hayley Project,Lonelygirl15, LG15, LG15: The Resistance, EQAL, Kate Modern, Bree, Miles Beckett, and Jessica Rose in the same entry, I think it helps our SEO).

I personally would have made fun of the “tv blipping on and off” effect that we put on the webcam. I mean, what webcam actually does that? None. That’s how many. I would have also pointed out how we used similar footage from the horror part of the trailer and the comedic part (note how the girls are dressed the same in both sections) and then made fun of how ridiculously low our budget must have been. At least, that’s where I would have started.

And to answer the question from the excerpt below:

“Here’s what we don’t get: There are literally no hard-and-fast rules for web content right now. It’s like the Wild West for content creators. So why are so many of them falling all over themselves to make and remake the same fucking show over and over again?”

The answer is simple.

1) Not every show in a genre is the same

2) Webseries economics (at this point in time) lends itself to leveraging the video blog medium because it’s a one set, one camera setup, which is cheap.

3) Throw in the fact that the majority of the web series-viewing audience overindexes on young males, and it makes sense to have “cute girls” as your main characters. We had considered doing a series with overweight middle-aged balding men as the protagonists, but decided there wasn’t a huge audience for it.

That all said, The Hayley Project is not meant to be a “knock off” of any kind. Our story is original and we have plenty of twists and turns that nobody will see coming. Also, the tone of our series is more in line with our target audience than a lot of content we’ve seen on the web. When we created The Hayley Project, we had a specific audience in mind, and recognize and welcome the fact that this series may not appeal to everybody. In fact, that’s when you actually know your target segment might enjoy it.

Does The Hayley Project live under the umbrella of serials where a “cute girl video blogs”? Yes, it does. But our girl is better. 😉